Warcraft: Bechdel Tested

I’ve a strong interest in how women get portrayed in computer games; partly because I’m a strong believer in equality, partly because I like supercool ass-kicking women and there’s so few in games. With that in mind I’ve often found myself thinking about the depiction of female characters in my beloved Warcraft. There’s a hundred different ways I could approach such a topic, but for today I thought I would stick with the big picture and look at some trends across the board. To do that, I’m going to analyse some of Warcraft’s lore characters with a doodad called the Bechdel Test.

The Bechdel Test is intended a measure of female presence in media. Originally showcased in a comic strip (+1 geek point there) the test examines a film (or in this case, computer game) based on containing 3 simple criteria:

1. Does it include at least two female characters?

2. Who talk to each other?

3. Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?

It’s actually quite shocking how many movies, tv shows and games totally fail this test, which is of course the point. Naturally it is by no means perfect, but it’s useful as a kind of litmus test of how women are portrayed, highlighting the complete lack of well-developed female characters in modern entertainment. So how does World of Warcraft fare under the Bechdel Test?

The original comic by Alison Bechdel. Click for full version.

Well, it goes without saying that the first criteria is satisfied, it would be hard in a world as large as Azeroth for this not to be the case. However the remaining two points quickly become problematic. Now I’m not the first to apply this test to Warcraft, but to explore this further I decided to gather a host of Warcraft’s various female lore characters and submit them to the criteria of the test. The only stipulation I’ve made is that talking to player characters does not count, for obvious reasons.

I’ve always liked Jaina. In Warcraft 3 she quickly developed from a rather timid character into a bold leader of her people. Not to mention she saved the world and stuff. However ever since then she has been a bit of a broken record. Arthas this, Arthas that. Yeah we get it, your high-school crush turned evil – it happens, get over it. I really hope that now that Wrath is coming to an end we will see some more of an interesting path for Jaina.

Talks to Other Women? Yes, although only just. Her fellow Dark Rangers are all female, and she gives them orders during the Frozen Halls instances. I have never seen her communicate with any other women however.

About Something Other Than a Man? Yes. Well, technically she is giving her Dark Rangers orders as part of her vendetta against Arthas, but I won’t be too picky.

Verdict: Pass!

Sylvanas is one of my favourite characters ever and to my mind represents Warcraft’s superlative in female ass-kickery. As such I am glad to see her pass this test, as she is by far Azeroth’s strongest female character. However I feel it is worth emphasising that the pass is tenuous at best, and Sylvanas doesn’t actually talk to any significant female chracters. This is partly due to the lack of any other female Horde leaders, plus the fact that other than the Dark Rangers there seems to be a lack of any women in the Forsaken hierarchy. Sylvanas reminds me of Elizabeth I of England: the epitome of a strong independent woman , but in terms of actual female interaction there is very little going on.

Talks to Other Women? Yes. In Warcraft 3 she talks to Shandris Feathermoon, other Night Elf Sentinels, Maiev Shadowsong and to Jaina.

About Something Other Than a Man? Yes, her and Shandris spend the first part of the Night Elf chapter of WC3 discussing their worsening situation.

Verdict: Pass!

Tyrande is probably the most solid pass for this test in all of Warcraft, probably because she leads a society that until recently was female-only (the Night Elf men were all having a nap). In a sense this seems kind of odd, as Tyrande’s major role in the Warcraft plot is her juxtaposition between Illidan and Malfurion Stormrage, but we have to remember that Tyrande has a long history of being a pretty amazing female ruler. The only unfortunate thing is that we don’t really see it currently in-game, as she mostly just hangs around in Darnassus failing to interact with anyone, female or otherwise. Still, a resounding pass to the Bechdel Test.

Talks to Other Women? Ish. We never see her talking to another woman in-game. However it is safe to assume she has talked to her sister Ysera and other female dragons. We also know she was close to Dahlia Suntouched.

About Something Other Than a Man? Presumably yes.

Verdict: Fail.

Why the fail? Well because whilst from a lore perspective we can assume that Alexstrasza has talked to other women about all kinds of things, we have never seen this occur in any of the Warcraft games. The Bechdel Test measures forms of entertainment, not just their background, so I sadly have to fail the Lifebinder based on this criteria.

Talks to Other Women? No, at least no that we ever see. We can assume that as envoy to the Wymrest Accord, she talks to Alextrasza and others.

About Something Other Than a Man? Unknown.

Verdict: Fail.

This one makes me very sad, as I absolutely adore Chromie and as a character she is by far the most inspiring and kind-hearted of the dragons. Unfortunately, whilst she has come to the aid of female characters like Pamela Redpath, she has only ever been seen to talk directly to male characters, with the exception of the player.

Talks to Other Women? Yes. Not that she does much in-game, but a quest specifies she is in communication with Apothecary Zamah, a Forsaken woman.

About Something Other Than a Man? Yes, they discuss the arrival of the player, as well as ongoing issues in the Stonetalon Mountains.

Verdict: Pass.

This may seem a bit of an odd once to select, as Magatha doesn’t do much except hang around in Thunder Bluff. However I selected her because she will have a greater role in Cataclysm. Her pass is tenuous, in a similar vein to that of Sylvanas. She has technically conversed with a woman in-game, however it wasn’t especially significant. It does however show her as a female leader who does sometimes talk to other women so let’s call that win, even if it is by a slender margin!

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Thoughts on the Test

To be honest, Warcraft doesn’t fair too well under the Bechdel Test. Out of 7 major female characters only three pass the test, and two of those are by slender margins. Obviously there are other female characters I could mention, but I was struggling to find many more who had significant roles in the Warcraft storyline. I mean, Magatha was clutching at straws to be honest. I thought about lore characters like Garona and Aegwynn, but I decided not to include them as they haven’t technically shown up in the game yet, not that I think either would pass the criteria anyway.

Of course the test is really just meant to be used as a general indicator, there are all kinds of problems with it. You can easily have a film or game that passes the test that is still overtly misogynistic or gender-blind, and just because one passes doesn’t means that all is fine from a feminist perspective. In the context of Warcraft, I think it is also worth considering that part of the problem may be because, at least before Wrath, not many WoW NPCs really interacted much at all. Therefore any character’s ability to talk with anyone, male or female, has been somewhat limited.

However, I think the fact that it is difficult to find more than one female Warcraft character that passes definitely tells us something. The long and short of this little blog post is that viewed through this particular method, there is something wrong with the women of Warcraft. Of the three of my candidates that passed the test, two did so only by conversing with minor throw-away characters. That’s a problem.

Personally I think most of it is due to the fact that there are so few noteable female characters. Sylvanas would easily pass if there were another female leader to talk to, or indeed if one of her named Forsaken champions was female. I’m not saying there should be some kind of arbitrary 50% quota for the gender of game characters, but it is true that the women are in the minority here. To be honest I struggled to come up with many female characters for this post and had to go poking my Twitter buddies so I that I could remember half of them (thank you Rades, ShadowMisery and Thyanel!). This discrepancy is why I supported the idea that the leader of the Bilgewater Cartel should be female, but sadly that doesn’t look as if its going to happen.

I also think the representation of Warcraft women could be enhanced greatly with a just a bit more emphasis on the fantastic female characters we already have. Sylvanas absolutely rocks as a strong character, but is hamstrung by the fact that she is, well, a psychopath. Its not the best female representation when your coolest lady is actually a cold-hearted killer. Looking at some of those characters above there is a lot of potential to have some more oomph. Jaina would be an incredible woman to look up to if she just stopped being the Arthas’s ex and started being a heroine. Tyrande already has a lot going on for her, she just needs to actually do something in-game, anything at all really other than looking pretty in Darnassus. As for Chromie, she’s an awesome character, I don’t even think she needs any improvement, just the odd conversation with another female dragon might be nice for solidarity.

Ultimately, the female Warcraft character’s we have possess a lot of potential.It would just be nice if we saw more of their awesomeness, doing more stuff together and if we saw more of them period.

14 Responses

A great post- I really enjoyed reading it. I’m just blown away that Blizz didn’t go with a female goblin leader- what a fun opportunity for play, and an opening up of potential for complex relationships between horde leaders (not to mention, y’know, evening things up a tiny bit).

Interesting read, thank you. I agree that the female characters currently in the game definitely could be enhanced further – there is so much potential, let them play out some nice story lines that don’t revolve around a) what a man did or b) about them growing a big, power-hungry head.

Nice analysis! Good choice of female lead characters (granted, there’s not exactly a ton) and it’s always interesting to put characters to this test to examine them.

I have a minor disagreement point about Jaina, but a bit more stronger opinion on why this test isn’t really a valid test to apply to WoW.

Jaina – I would STRONGLY disagree that all she talks about is men. It just seems that way, especially with her silly roles in WotLK. If you consider her various appearances in the WoW novels as canon (which, judging from your inclusion of Aegwynn as one the people Jaina converses with, you do) Jaina talks about EVERYTHING. Peace, the Alliance, the Horde, the Kirin Tor, Arthas, the Scourge, Kel’Thuzad, Necromancy…she is probably the most diplomatic and involved person in Azeroth’s entire history. Pretty much if there’s been something important happening within the last 30 years or so, Jaina’s been involved and discussing it.

This test – the reason I dislike this test is because it misleads readers to false assumptions, in particular the “Does she talk to other women?” question. Take Sylvanas, for example. As you said, she talks to her Dark Rangers, but that’s basically it for women. This implies that the rest of her conversation time is with men. But this isn’t really true – she just doesn’t talk to ANYONE! She talks to Thrall during the Wrathgate event, and she probably discusses a few things with Varimathras? But that’s it.

Let me put it this way. A rock would fail the test, because it doesn’t talk to females. Does it talk to males? Of course not. But that’s not one of the criteria of the test.

It really IS too bad they aren’t going with a Goblin leader. I could definitely see a strong, confident, intelligent female goblin keeping the mischievous males in line, and being absolutely loved by male AND female audiences.

I feel you’re probably completely right about Jaina, she is a very well-rounded and interesting character, but in-game itself we haven’t seen enough of it. Her various appearances over Wrath have been completely Arthas-focused, making her rather annoying. That’s why I long to see her in a different setting.

I haven’t actually read the comics, so she may well be a much more balanced character in them. However since only a fraction of the playerbase actually reads these things, I think it’s prudent to keep it to game content only. Of course, that means I am a little inconsistent by referencing Aegwynn, but I was merely trying to find a case where she had conversed with a woman, which has almost never happened.

Although I have now just realised that I gave Tyrande credit for talking to Jaina in Warcraft 3, but did not credit Jaina for this. Error (and possibly bias?) on my part there, because I can’t honestly recall if one ever directly addresses the other, despite being at the same gathering.

I also think you’re right to point out the limitations of the test. As I mention above, it really can only be used as a rough guide, a litmus test of general female representation. Jaina and Sylvanas are victims of this, because their good qualities are ignored by the test.

My problem with applying this particular test to this particular game is that the major lore characters don’t spend a lot of time talking to anyone, but, well… us.

However, this has changed a bit in WotLK with the rise of things like the Wrathgate Event and the Battle for the Undercity. These events pretty much exclude women entirely, excepting Jaina, who makes nearly everyone flinch. WoW could have done a much better job in equalizing the role of male and female lore characters in the major events of the fall of the Lich King, and in this they did fail.

One final thing, I love Maeiv. Just because you have a singular characteristic that defines you does not make you uninteresting as a lore character, or “flat” as a character. Many great stories start with a thirst for revenge!

Oh I’m also a fan of Maiev, don’t get me wrong. Her obsession with Illidan is only a negative thing for me in the context of this test. As a character in herself she’s cool, and provides some much needed bad-assery to Elvish women.

As I mentioned above to Rades, you’re perfectly correct to point out that the test has limitations in an MMO setting. I may have to work on alternative measures of female representations in Warcraft… *ponders future blog posts*

I wish the women in WoW did as much in the game as they do in the lore. It’s still a far sight better than many games, to be sure.

Alison Bechdel is one of my favorite cartoonists ever, and rarely misses the mark.

Nelf lore was good in Warcraft III, but incoherent sometimes in WoW itself. I’m hoping that they will bring it back in good shape in Cataclysm, and take advantage of a chance to get Tyrande or other women in the Nelf leadership a more involved role.

If what I’m overhearing is true, there is a larger role now for Theramore, and I hope seeing more of Jaina is a part of that.

Lady Liadrin would probably pass the Bechdel Test if there were more female paladins in general she could talk to.

I notice in general that it’s not just women, there doesn’t seem to be much middle management type characters in WoW at all. The orcs have some extra moving parts (Nazgrel, Saurfang, etc.) but they’re the exception. The only notable leader-type Draenei on the Exodar is Velen himself for instance.

It really goes to show that under the surface, WoW’s lore is pretty empty. Though on the other hand, I think that’s also part of the design intent, so players can feel like they’re filling in the missing parts.

Lady Liadrin is woefully underutilized! Her scripted speech & discussion with the Shattrath Naaru was one of my favorite things to witness in BC. She displays, in those few minutes, strength of character, determination, and depth. I’ve long maintained that she should take over leadership of the Blood Elves, or at least share a joint leadership with Lor’Theron (since neither of them are an actual King or Prince).

Jaina’s obsession with Arthas I think had to do less with him being a “high school crush” (Though I think that’s over simplifying it) and more to do with a sense of guilt.

Would Arthas had become the Lich King if she hadn’t left him at Stratholme? I imagine that question, especially as the death toll rose in Icecrown, kept her up at night. It certainly would for me.

Though ultimately, wouldn’t all these characters technically pass considering how many female player characters they interact with? Eliminating the PCs is skewing the data a bit, especially since most of these characters spend the majority of their existence stuck in one spot. (Thankfully, not in front of the stove. Amirite? /dodges thrown projectiles)

Whilst its true that the player characters are the ‘glue’ of the Warcraft story, quests and storylines occur the same way regardless of a male or female PC. As such I thought it made sense to effectively treat them as gender neutral for the purposes of the test. Future posts will try to take them into account though.

As some people have said before me the test is difficult to apply to WoW, but on the whole it would be nice sometimes to see a bit more of the characters.

Jaina for example is supposed to be this awesomely powerful mage, ruler of Theramore.. yet most of our interactions with her are about Arthas. I don’t like the way people talk about her in-game (players that is) about how she’s loose because she likes Arthas and Thrall (which brings the count to 2.. not really a large number of men by any standards) and other disapproving remarks.

I think she could be developed better in game to show more of the awesome mage she is meant to be.

Same with a lot of the other characters as well, I guess. Even male ones could use a bit of fleshing out – but the female ones are the ones that feel sorely lacking.

I agree that a female goblin leader would have been pretty awesome. It’s a shame they didn’t go for that.

I’ve never found the Bechdel test to be particularly predictive of a work’s quality, nor its view on females, to be honest. Obviously you weren’t saying it is, but I…dunno, I can’t help myself from stating irrelevant things sometimes.

Anyway…it’s probably for the best that the Goblin leader isn’t female, because as far as I’m aware (due to extensive watching of beta footage, courtesy of TotalHalibut, who has a lovely British accent that can be found on YouTube,) the Goblin faction leader is a total prick. He screws you over multiple times, blames you for everything that happens (again, multiple times,) and is just, in general, a huge jackass. And with the dearth of important female characters in WoW, it’d probably go over rather poorly to have the new important female character be him. Her. Whatever.

THAT said, I don’t think Sylvanas is hamstrung at all by her obvious murder-fetish. It just makes her even more awesome (and she is quite awesome indeed).

This is a very late comment, I do realize it, but I’ve come across this page by googling. I heartily disagree with your verdict on Maiev. In the TFT campaign, she interacted a lot with her warriors, with as far as I remember are all females. Here are a few examples (from memory) :

1) Maiv comments on the corruption the Legion has inflicted on the land. In particular she tells her army the furbolgs has gone insane and have to be culled. There is also the talk with the dryad about the giant creep (forgot the name) that leads to a quest. Finally, the discussion about the elf units that have been imprisoned by satyrs.
2) Discussions in the beginning, in particular Maiev comments on the ruins being those of the ancient elvn capital that seem to have emerged from the depths if the sea. There is also the cinematic in the top-left part of the map when recalls about the Boughs of Azshara. At the end, she orders part of the army to get back to the base while a group of units and herself will enter the Tomb.
3) Haha. There are several cinematics of Gul’Dan flashbacks and Maiev’s reactions, talking to her warriors. Note that Naisha is part of those units talked to. And later, Maiev meets Vashj and learn from her the secret of the origin of the Nagas. Even though Illidan is mentioned by Vashj, that’s hardly a man-centered conversation, is it ?
6) I think it’s the sixth mission. When Maiev, Tyrande and Furion travel to Lordaeron pursuing Illidan, Furion has to leave the ladies and they then meet Kael’s caravan trudging through the treacherous wastelands. Discussion at the beginning on whether they should help him or not, arguably focused on Illidan on Maiev’s side. At the end, Tyrande offers to stall the enemies to let the rest of them escape, and Maiev tries to convince her not to.

Thus, we can see clearly that there is plenty of talk between Maiev and other women throughout this campaign, for the obvious reason Maiev is leading troops of mostly/exclusively women. In case one would use a Bechdel test where female characters have no be named, as it apepars sometimes though not in your article, then Naisha, Vashj and Tyrande still provide the wished talk. Therefore I assert that Maiev actually brilliant passes the test.